The effective fervent prayer of the righteous avails much. – James 5:16
The final Moed or Feast of the LORD – the 7 day Feast of Tabernacles – ended with the 8th day Sabbath last Monday. As I explained in last week’s comment, most Jewish people call the 8th day “Simchat Torah”, the celebration of the beginning of the annual Torah reading cycle. Here in Israel the weather was very good up to the afternoon of the 7th day, when dark clouds and a strong wind began to blow across the land. Most Succahs became like the sails on a yacht, forcing many of us to dismantle the our Succah before the evening meal at the official end of Succot.
This Succot saw the return of people from the nations, both Jewish and Christians to celebrate the Moedim. We have not seen so many tourists in Israel since international travel was shut down at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was wonderful to have so many brothers and sisters from the nations worshipping the LORD, and celebrating His Appointed Times with us here on Mt.Carmel. Jerusalem was of almost as full of pilgrims as it was before Covid struck, and thankfully the many planned Succot events were able to take place in spite of the fact that serious violence was taking place in a number of locations. Special thanks to the IDF soldiers and other security personnel who stood in the gap to keep the situation under control, and special thanks to those of you who stood in the gap in prayer and intercession for protection over Israel at this time of heightened tensions. Sadly 3 young IDF soldiers were killed by terrorists, but it could have been much worse, if there had been no prayer and intercession. The LORD bless you for your love, prayer and solidarity.
Now that life is returning to normal what is happening in and around Israel? The IDF forces and undercover agents will most likely continue to search for active and potential terrorists as they have been doing over the last few months, with the town of Jenin being a primary location where the enemies of Israel are in hiding and being prepared to carry our attacks. Both Prime Minister Lapid and Defense Minister Gantz are regularly and publicly declaring that the missions to protect the citizens of Israel, by rooting out all terror threats, will continue until the missions are accomplished. The big question is … will the rioting and violence in and around Jerusalem settle down now that the festive season is over?
Last week, under pressure from the Biden administration, the maritime border agreement between Israel and Lebanon was finalised. In exchange for a large area of the Mediterranean Sea surface area and the sea-bed below, which holds a huge amount of natural gas, Israel has been promised peace on the northern border and significant financial benefits also. Some political leaders and local media see it as a good deal for Israel, and others including former PM Benjamin Netanyahu see it as a very bad deal. Only time will tell who is right and who is wrong, and if these promises will be kept by Hezbollah, the terror organisation that controls Lebanon, and if Israel receives the promised financial increase. Israel has also been pressured by the EU to allow the Palestinian Authority to extract gas off the Gaza coastline.
The civil uprising in Iran may be the key to easing the tension between Israel and the extreme Islamic regime that has ruled Iran since the overthrow of the Shah in 1978. The anti government demonstrations have been taking place for more than a month and are intensifying. If the demonstrators are able to keep up the momentum, there is a good chance that there will be a full revolution that will bring an end to the Islamic regime, opening the way to a more stable and peaceful Iran, and an end to the nuclear weapons threat. The son of the former Shah recently was reported as saying that he can see the day when Iran will restore diplomatic relations with Israel.
The Russian war against Ukraine continues to threaten stability in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, with the possibility of Russia using some of its nuclear weapons to defeat the Ukrainian army which has inflicted serious damage on the Russian military. Right from the beginning of the war Israel has been caught in the middle of the conflict with President Zelenskyy asking for Israel to help and Russia warning Israel not to. Just this week, former Russian president Medvedev threatened that if Israel supplies weapons to Ukraine the relationship between Russia and Israel will be destroyed. It is way beyond time for the UN and NATO to intervene to stop the Russian mission to destroy and take over Ukraine, but I don’t think they have the ‘guts’ to confront President Putin.
Finally it is just 2 weeks to the Israeli election and at this point of time the polls are indicating that none of the parties will win enough seats to form a majority government with the required 61 seats. If that turns out to be the case and none of the parties are able to negotiate a coalition agreement to gather the 61 seats, then there will need to be yet another election. Unless the LORD intervenes Israel could be stuck in the endless cycle of election after election until the Messiah returns to take over the government upon His shoulders (Isaiah 9:6).
As the Body of Yeshua on the Earth and as His ambassadors, please be in prayer and intercession over all of the above issues.
This article originally appeared on Out of Zion Ministries and reposted with permission.